Shorts, 6/18.

25 up. Once again, Filmmaker Magazine has gone off in search of the 25 most up-n-coming people in indie film: "Our self-imposed edict to fly lower below the radar makes it only a bit harder to make these selections each year." It's a tough job, but "our track record here is pretty good." Which they can prove by catching up with the 25 they highlighted last year.

Filmmaker also talks with Danny Boyle, whose 28 Days Later opens in the US next Friday, and Alex Garland, bestselling novelist (The Beach) and screenwriter on this one. They're getting around these days. Dennis Lim chats with them for the Village Voice as well (and offers a fun sidebar, a sort of top seven virus movies list).

Rory Kennedy's making the rounds, too. You may have seen the interview in indieWIRE, for example. Well, what sets Filmmaker's apart is that the interviewer is Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A.). Kennedy's doc, Pandemic: Facing AIDS, tells five stories of people doing just that; in the interview, she retells "probably the most intense [story] for me in making the documentary," and one can only imagine. It's harrowing enough just to read it.

Leave it to the terrific Armond White. With a less-than-engaging selection of new films this week, he turns his attention to something he can sink his teeth into, namely, what in the world Jennifer Lopez might have been thinking paying shot-by-shot homage to Flashdance in her most recent video, which "compresses the essence of Flashdance into about three minutes (movie-trailer length). Coincidentally, this reduction tells almost everything we need to know about the state movies are in."

Jason Kottke seems surprised - no, more than surprised, maybe even genuinely alarmed:

In short, the Matrix thread is unexpectedly large, and depending on how you look at it, is anywhere from 10% to 36% of my entire site, and significantly more than 50% of the total output since May 15th. If you were to look at all the content of the site in the aggregate, you might come to the conclusion that kottke.org is a Matrix Reloaded-related site even though it's been chugging along Reloaded-free for more than 5 years.

That's his bolding, by the way.

The New York Times's Rick Lyman fills out the background on a vote to merge the Screen Actors Guild with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Proponents "argue that while Hollywood studios and television networks are consolidating into bigger and bigger global conglomerates, the best way for performers to magnify their clout is similarly to band together."

In the Guardian:

Paul MacInnes on what The Conversation and The Apartment can teach us about privacy;

Those coins New Zealand is striking with images from The Lord of the Rings - the series really must have pumped up that economy;

In response to Premiere's list of sexiest scenes in the movies (Blow-Up scores) and Playboy TV's (Monster's Ball's on top), the Guardian is inviting nominations for worst sex scene ever;

Reason enough to take the Sex on screen quiz.

David Chute profiles "a world-class film director, one of Thailand's best," who also happens to be a prince. Really: Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol.

John Malkovich, who's just directed his debut feature and has played directors more than a few times, fuses an evidently favorite role with the great pretender he's just played in Ripley's Game for Color Me Kubrick.

So, is a decent production of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy actually on the way after all these years? If Variety's to be believed, yes. Not that the BBC production was awful, exactly, but a genuine made-for-the-big-screen version would be more than welcome.

Rebecca Traister in the New York Observer on James Schamus:

The screenwriter, low-budget-film pioneer, Columbia University professor and now studio executive's radically diverse experiences must gel perfectly. A summer blockbuster that he wants everyone to know is a really smart film, The Hulk will be Mr. Schamus' attempt to prove that a professor can make an action movie, that an action movie can be a thoughtful movie, and that a thoughtful movie can make millions.

On a related note, in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Charles Russo, noting that "the American movie audience is - for better or worse - currently in the midst of a comic book superhero-to-cinema trend that will ensure at least two such movies for the next few summers," offers a bit of cultural context and a list of "some of the more mature offerings of the comic book world."

Online viewing tips. Wiley Wiggins points to a collection of clips shot on MiniDV at the Dazed and Confused reunion. Also: Tagliners Stephen and Alistair Reid sort through the recent trailers for your viewing pleasure.

What, another one? Oh, why not. Here's that promo for France featuring Woody Allen trying to reason with his fellow Americans.



Posted by dwhudson at June 18, 2003 6:33 AM